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May 26, 2016

Julia Vanishes Blog Tour: Guest Post + Giveaway

Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for Julia Vanishes! I have a fantastic guest post by the author to share with you - and don't forget to enter the giveaway!

Julia Vanishes (Witch's Child #1)

Author: Catherine Egan

Genre: YA Paranormal/Thriller

Release Date: June 7, 2016

Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers

Description:

Julia has the unusual ability to be…unseen. Not invisible, exactly. Just beyond most people’s senses.

It’s
a dangerous trait in a city that has banned all forms of magic and
drowns witches in public Cleansings. But it’s a useful trait for a thief
and a spy. And Julia has learned—crime pays.

Her latest job is
paying very well indeed. Julia is posing as a housemaid in the grand
house of Mrs. Och, where an odd assortment of characters live and work: A
disgraced professor who sends her to fetch parcels containing bullets,
spiders, and poison. An aristocratic houseguest who is locked in the
basement each night. And a mysterious young woman who is clearly in
hiding—though from what or whom?

Worse, Julia suspects that
there’s a connection between these people and the killer leaving a trail
of bodies across the frozen city.

The more she learns, the more
she wants to be done with this unnatural job. To go back to the safety
of her friends and fellow thieves. But Julia is entangled in a struggle
between forces more powerful than she’d ever imagined. Escape will come
at a terrible price.

* “There is a richness to this inaugural volume of the Witch’s Child trilogy, and readers will be hard pressed to put it down.” –Booklist, Starred

My First Book

I wrote my first book when I was six
years old. It was about a bunch of kids who lived on a farm and ran a
lot of races. I had never been to a farm, but I’d never heard the old
adage “write what you know” either. There were ten chapters in pencil
that got progressively shorter and sloppier, and each chapter detailed
one of the races. The fastest runner was named… ahem… Cathy, and every
chapter ended thus: “CATHY WON THE RACE AGAIN!”

When I
was finished, I showed my opus to my grandmother, who was visiting. My
grandmother is a musician, and she had been married to a writer, so she
knows a thing or two about the life of an artist. She was a violin
prodigy growing up in Hungary and at six years old she was already a
serious musician; she saw no reason to coddle me or offer false praise
as adults so often do with children. She read my book, one page after
another, and I watched her read with bated breath. When she was
finished, she looked at me and said: “Darling, this is a very good first
draft.”

I didn’t know what a draft was, but I solemnly
promised her that I would revise the book “several times at least.” She
told me that being a writer would take commitment, and there would be – I
remember this vividly because I was so struck by it – hundreds of
rejections. I had to ask her what rejection was. It sounded very
glamorous.

I took my book up to my room and I remember
still the glow of pride I felt. My grandmother had not told me it was
wonderful. Oh, much better than that – she had taken me seriously.

I’ve
traded in my pencil for a laptop, I’ve come to love the slow work of
revision, and Cathy doesn’t win every race anymore, but otherwise not so
much has changed. I’m still in it for the moment when Cathy breaks into
a sprint, when Julia goes over the wall, and I know what I’m doing, I
know what’s on the other side, and my power is absolute.

CATHERINE EGAN grew up in Vancouver, Canada. Since then, she has
lived on a volcanic island in Japan (which erupted while she was there
and sent her hurtling straight into the arms of her now-husband), in
Tokyo, Kyoto, and Beijing, on an oil rig in the middle of Bohai Bay,
then in New Jersey, and now in New Haven, Connecticut. She is currently
occupied with writing books and fighting dragon armies with her warrior
children. You can read more about her at catherineegan.com. Follow her
on Twitter at @ByCatherineEgan.